Deeper Bonds
by MoonLightDaiyz
Summary: The new generation of ninja has come; a younger and stronger era of ninja in training born of your favorite ninjas! Completely clueless from the fact that she's a Jinchuriki, holder of the legendary and evil Kyuubi. With her father gone, the Kyuubi's power awakening from its long slumber nearly driving the teen crazy, what is this to unleash upon Konoha?
1. Orange Ninja of Konoha!

Naruto Shippuden-The Next Generation: Deeper Bonds

 **Author:** **MoonLightDaiyz**

 _The new generation of ninja has come; a younger and stronger era of ninja in training born of your favorite ninjas! A new Jinchuriki as well as a new blonde, orange hyper-active, second knuckle-headed ninja in Konoha!_

 _Yukino is a sixteen year old Genin of Konohagakure. For sixteen years of her life, Yukino has been completely clueless from the fact that she's a Jinchuriki, holder of the legendary and evil Kyuubi. With her father gone, the Kyuubi's power awakening from its long slumber nearly driving the teen crazy, and backstabbing rogue ninjas and close allies scoping out and betraying the young girl; what will all this unleash onto village of Konoha?_

 _Every time we set aside our pride_

 _We take a step closer to the beast_

 _Every time we kill an emotion_

 _We take a step away from the beast_

* * *

 _Chapter One_

 **Deeper Bonds:** The Orange Ninja of Konoha!

Alternate Title: **The second-coming of the hyper-active, unpredictable, knuckle-headed ninja**

"Target spotted," a tomboyish female's voice spoke into in a whispered tone of voice; the voice sounding like it was slightly mixed with static as if being spoken through an earpiece. In the small forest outside of Konoha, within the large cluttered life of trees, dashed three blurred figures amongst the trees' branches; they were all chasing after a quicker blur straight ahead of them.

"I'm on it." Another voice answered, a bit deeper than the first one. The shuffling sounds of leaves rustling by the small gust of speeding winds.

"It's fast!" The girl warned the two. "It's heading towards the village."

"Stay on its tail." A boy's voice ordered, receiving two grunts as a responsive 'yes', and the three sped off after the creature that hissed and growled as he zoomed into Konoha. The three figures rushed into the village with a grinning long haired blonde leading two boys, one was bleached haired blonde while the other was a raven haired boy. The girl ahead of them dashed through the bustling crowds of the village, wrecking some of the villager's daily chores receiving multiple naggings and hollers. The two boys sweat dropped.

A man in his mid-sixties huffed out a small sigh as he raised his hand and brushed past the small restaurant's entryway curtains, "I'm heading out on a delivery. I'll be back soon; keep an eye out for customers." He called back into the shop as he firmed his grip on the carrier of noodles he had to deliver and leisurely presumed on his way, but gasped a bit startled by a speeding blurred figure shooting past just in front of him. He took a few steps back and stared after the creature, "What was that . . .? –" He asked, but was cut off by yet another speeding figure zipping in front of him, as he was busy staring after the one from before to notice, and fell back onto his rear end sending his just made, delicious Ramen noodles airborne and falling, clashing and hitting the ground, spilling all over the noodle maker.

"Whoops," the girl's voice snickered a bit as she skidded to a small stop, trying to catch her balance only to slowly start back up on her chase; while the elder man stared down to his precious food and then flashed a glare after the girl as she went off on her way, catching her quick apology in the distance. "Sorry about that, Pops!"

He gaped at this with widened eyes and shook his fist after the blonde, "NARUTO! ! !" He bellowed after her by instinct, but blinked as he noticed her smirk back to him from over her slender shoulder, "Hehehe."

The shop keeper lowered his hand a bit at this recognition, watching after the girl as the two boys were chasing after her; quickly saying their apologies. He smiled softly as he fumed, hollering loudly after her trail of mischief and wreckage, "Ahem, er-I mean, YUKINO! ! !"

The small dark figure zipped around a corner and yelped out a small animalistic scream, taking notice that it had ran down a dead end alleyway. The two boys crept slowly towards the small creature, which flinched at the sudden sound of footsteps behind it and hissed towards the two. The blonde sighed as he rolled his eyes and placed his hand to his earpiece, "We've found and located the target." He stated, with the other boy nodding his head curtly, in agreement.

"Roger that, heh, look out below! I got ya, Chiharu!" a voice exclaimed, making the two boys and even the darkened creature glance up high above them. Yukino chuckled loudly as she leapt from a high two story building unto the small creature -which in turn, was a brown cat with a large red bow on its left ear; it screeched as the teenaged girl landed down just behind the cat and pounced it. But the cat wasn't going to give up just yet and glared up to the grinning girl and then flashed her claws, "Mrow!" It hissed and tackled onto Yukino's face, scratching and clawing with enraged fiery.

"A-aah! Stop that, ya stupid cat!" Yukino screamed as she fought against the small feline. "C-come on; cut it out already!" She continued and her two team mates watched on, sweat dropping.

"Captured, secured and ready to be returned." The black haired boy stated in a low and an embarrassed tone of voice as the bleach haired blonde nodded in agreement. "Yup."

Yukino continued to wrestle with the cat and spewed various threats to the animal as she bit its tail out of vengeance; the cat growled lowly as it turned and went back to clawing at the young Genin's face, "STOP IT ALREADY!"

 **\- -Hokage's office- -**

Tetsuya-san wailed tears of joy and happiness as she rubbed her face cheerfully against her most beloved cat; Chiharu, "Oh thank you, thank you! Oh, my little Chiharu, you wouldn't believe how worried Mommy was about you." She squealed, tightly embracing the feline; the cat squirmed and wriggled within the woman's grasp and tried multiple ways of escaping, crying and hissing at her owner, begging to be freed. "M-mrow!"

The woman giggled maniacally as she strode over towards the fifth Hokage's desk and paid the high sum of finding her pet cat, humming joyously, content and blissfully happy that she has her favorite animal back home at long last. The three young Genin watched after her with slightly wide eyes, seeing why the house cat had fled away from home in the first place. _'I sort of feel bad for her,'_ the ebony haired boy sweat dropped as he watched the scene unfold before him and his team, as the woman exited out of the room.

"You three are pathetic. Do you know how long you've been out there?" Miaka, the team's sensei, scolded the young shinobi; they lowered their heads in embarrassment. "If a mission as simple as finding a lost cat this difficult for you, how do you expect anyone to take you three seriously with an actual high classed mission?"

"The thing was moving around so fast," the bleached haired blonde stated with a bored expression etched onto his face. "You should've seen it; it's almost as if that cat had run away before."

"No big deal. We brought the cat back here, didn't we?" Grumbling under her breath, Yukino crossed her arms over her chest, pouting faintly as she seemed to take much interest in glaring over to the office's room wall from the corners of her eyes, "Besides, if that old broad was my master; I'd run for the hills too . . ." She muttered lowly under her breath. Iruka glanced over to the girl with narrowed eyes, "Yukino," he scolded, "mind your tongue."

"Hmph." she huffed as she glared down to the wooden floorboards. "What's with all the lame missions lately, anyway? Where's the challenge? Or the excitement?" Yukino pouted slightly, looking up to the three older Nin.

Iruka sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in an irritated manner, "Nothing really is going on, and so you have to cope with the minor D-rank missions."

"Well, I don't wanna be doin' D-rank; I want an A-ranked mission," Yukino pouted to Iruka, the fifth Hokage and her assistant. "Try givin' me somethin' to make me wanna get up in the mornin'."

"You're only of Genin level, you shouldn't expect anything much." Miaka huffed as she pulled faintly on the sash that was tied around her shoulder and across her torso, holding her favorite katana against her back; slowly getting bored with the current argument. She was already use to the young Genin's attitude after having been her sensei for almost three weeks of squad four, which consisted of Uchiha Satoshi, Nara Keisuke, and Uzumaki Yukino.

Satoshi is the one and only son of Uchiha Sakura and Sasuke; he stays a bit to himself and is seen as cool to some of the other female Genin and Chunin, while at other times (just like his mother), Satoshi can't help, but be a bit of a chatterbox. It's cute at some times, but can be annoying in Keisuke's case. He has dark ebony hair and long side bangs just like his father's, but the back of his hair was slicked down and stops at the starting of his neck; his eyes were dark onyx black -near black; his skin was slightly pale. He was wearing a red, long sleeved V-neck, with a high collared charcoal sleeveless vest with the Uchiha symbol on the back with a matching pair of denim black ANBU pants. Satoshi was very skilled in fighting as well as fire jutsu as his father was, but packed a lot more punch from the intensive practicing of chakra control with his mother.

Keisuke, the only son of Ino and Shikamaru; Keisuke seemed to have much of his father's personality –highly intelligent, laid back and . . . lazy, but because of his mother's busty personality, his laziness doesn't seem to affect him all that much, with the exception of his periodic nappings. Another trait that Keisuke had adopted from his mother is the same bleached blonde colored hair as well as the same style, but without the ponytail, he only has the long bang –his being a bit thicker covering the right side of his face; his eyes were a pupil-less dark brown; a physical trait developed from his father. He was wearing a navy blue ANBU styled long sleeved shirt over his fishnet shirt underneath; a pair of black long ANBU styles pants, tied around his right leg was his leg pouch filled with shuriken and kunai, along with smoke bombs and other battle/combat accessories and along his right leg, just under his ANBU-styled pants, Keisuke wore fishnet safeguards around his calves down to his ankles, being covered by his blue shinobi footwear. Keisuke is a very acceptable and intense close range fighter, just like his mother; but he also was specialized in long ranged jutsu like the Shadow Possession Jutsu, learned from his father.

And last, but certainly not least, Uzumaki Yukino; eldest daughter of Naruto and Hinata, the rowdiest, loud, unpredictable, and the labeled second knuckle-headed ninja in the Konohagakure . . . but, she also has developed a shy sense from her mother; whenever she seems to get embarrassed or nervous, she can't help fight twiddling her index fingers together with a cute small blush. Throughout her years of growing up, Yukino have always kept her bright blonde hair long; stopping just below her shoulder blades, but could never get rid of her genetic slightly spiky ends. She prefers to wear her hair in two long low spiky ponytails with her signature pair of long spiky side bangs hugging against the sides of her face; her eyes were the signature Hyuuga pearl white color with no pupils and she always had that cheeky grin on her face, mostly like Naruto's when he was younger. She was fitting a white tank top, while over that was a cute and vibrant blue colored shirt (the sleeves just stopping before her elbows), and over that was an orange sleeveless hooded vest that hung slightly loose on her delicate physique, but had fit all the same. On her legs was a pair of matching orange capris that she folded up just above her ankles, and on the sides of the bottoms were a matching pair of vibrant blue stripes. On her hands were a pair of light blue combat gloves with pastel orange trim; they were fingerless gloves. Yukino always loves a good fight (she's the ultimate tomboy) and was trained in the Hyuuga style of combat, learned from her mother and uncle, and she's nearly acceptable in the trademark Byakugan . . . it could still use much work though.

Aside from this, the fifth Hokage smiled a bit to herself as she stared over to the young ninja, _'She reminds me so much of him . . . well, that should be expected from his own flesh and blood.'_ She chuckled softly at her thoughts as she watched Yukino argue with an annoyed Satoshi; they seemed to never get along, but their arguments were always a treat to watch, to say the least. They seemed so much like their fathers, but had a newer vibe radiating from them; a kind of exciting spark, would better explain it. Even with all their arguing, Satoshi and Yukino were close friends; ever since they were younger they played around, pretending to be shinobi. Their parents all were pretty close; it was bound to say the same with the two as they developed over the years.

"Settle down you two," Iruka started, already use to the two's everyday bickering. "Try showing some respect and acknowledgment in the Hokage's presence."

Yukino broke herself from her verbal debate with the young Uchiha at Iruka's stern tone and glanced over to her previous sensei, "Heh, sorry about that, Iruka-sensei. Satoshi was bein' annoying again." She beamed a cheeky grin, while awkwardly rubbing the back of her head. Satoshi flinched at this, glaring over to the blonde from the corners of his eyes, with a sweat dropping Keisuke chuckling softly.

 _'Wait . . ._ _ **I'm**_ _being annoying . . . ?'_ Satoshi thought to himself.

Miaka rolled her eyes at this, "Would that conclude this meeting, then?" She asked with a slight yawn, wanting very much for this whole engagement to be over so she could go to the village's pub to drink some sake in peace without any distractions.

The Hokage nodded her head and waved a dismissive hand towards the four of them, "Alright, go along; besides I have much paperwork to attend to." She told them and then the four visitors started towards the door of the office, exiting out, but Yukino was the last person to step towards the door. She turned around, not fully, and beamed a smile back towards the fifth Hokage, "Alright. Seeya later, Grandma!"

Iruka, along with the brown haired assistant, Shizune both leaned over to the side, awkwardly taken aback by the sudden nickname, that Yukino had bestowed upon the village's leader, who seemed to not care about the pet name that much as she smiled, watching the young girl cackle and jog out of sight.

"Yukino, have you no respect for your elders -" Iruka started to scold after her, but Tsunade chuckled some more as she held up her hand, pausing the sensei. "Let her be, Iruka. It's not the first time I've been called by that. To be truthful, it has grown on me a bit, haha."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka nodded his head and then stared blankly towards the emptied doorway, as if lost in a memory. "She's so much like him."

Tsunade nodded her head, "Yukino is like a complete mirror image of him; completely in more ways than just physical appearance."

The three of them slowly turned towards the wide window behind them that tolled a full view of the village. They glanced down and watched the walking trio of friends' converse and slowly clutter themselves into the busy bustle of Konoha's daily evening crowds.

Tsunade smiled lightly to herself.

 **\- -Yukino, Satoshi and Keisuke- -**

The skies overhead had slowly transitioned into a brilliant shade of royal blue, signaling the coming of night for the small village of Konoha. Many people were just finishing their duties and chores and were leisurely ascending themselves home. Walking along the street and calling it a day themselves, Yukino was tucked in the middle of her two team mates; Satoshi on the left as Keisuke leisurely strolled on her right side, yawning to himself. She hummed a soft tune to herself with her arms crossed behind her head, a wide smile plastered amongst her face.

"So, what do you guys wanna do now?" Keisuke asked tiredly, with a hint of a slight yawn. Yukino opened one of her eyes, glancing over to the bleached haired blonde, "I don't know. I'm kinda gettin' a bit hungry, that's for sure."

"Wanna spin over to Ichiraku Ramen's for a bite? You love eating there." He optioned as he returned her glance; Yukino sweat dropped at the idea. "Uh . . . I don't think Pops would wanna feed me after I messed up his delivery earlier . . ." She trailed off at the memory.

"Heh, it's your fault for being such a klutz." Satoshi said for the first time after they left the Hokage's office. He smirked to himself as he stared ahead of him, ignoring Yukino's threatening glare. She clenched her fist at her side as she angrily mocked him with a sneering expression on her face, earning a small chuckle from the Uchiha. "I don't remember anybody asking for Satoshi's opinion, teme . . ."

"Ha. Oh, am I supposed to be scared?"

"Yeah you should, I could easily slap that smirk of yours off of your face in two seconds flat."

"Pfft, is that a fact," he laughed as he turned over to the blonde and caressed his hand under her chin. "Then why don't you try it then?" Satoshi smirked a bit down to her, his face a few inches from hers. Yukino blinked at his sudden action and stood frozen, her gaze locked on his and a light pink hinting on her cheeks.

"Seems like you're all bark and no bite, huh?" Satoshi grinned as he poked her on the forehead, teasingly. Snapping out of the small scene, Yukino growled lowly to herself and flashed a bit of her KI over to the ebony-haired boy as a silent threat, "Grrr! You're so annoying!"

Satoshi cackled a laugh as he grinned down to the fuming blue eyed blonde, "Catch you tomorrow." He bade as he quickly flashed from out of sight, making Yukino gasp lightly as she glared at the spot he once stood, "That Baka Uchiha . . ."

Keisuke, who watched the whole thing, sighed to himself, _'He's such a show-offy flirt; and Yukino's too dense to notice when he's only toying with her. Man, it's such a drag . . .'_ He thought to himself watching a fuming Yukino rage on about how she would one day beat the crap out of Satoshi Uchiha.

"Jeez . . . what a drag; come on, Yukino, I'll walk you home. It's getting kinda late." Keisuke mumbled lowly, but loud enough for the blonde haired girl to hear as he started down the road towards her family's estate. Yukino blinked and glanced over her slender shoulder. "Huh . . . ? H-hey, wait! Kei-kun, wait up for me!" She called as she quickly dashed after the walking boy.

 **\- -In front of the Hyuuga compound- -**

"Seeya tomorrow, Kei-kun," Yukino waved off her friend, watching his distancing figure slowly fade from her sight. She smiled after him and turned to enter into her large mansion of a home, being greeted by the two daily guards standing just out front of the house's entrance way. "Welcome back, Yukino-sama." They spoke in unison, bowing their heads gently.

Yukino inwardly rolled her eyes at this greeting, she always hated being referred to as "Yukino-sama" or "Young Mistress"; it can get a bit annoying to hear throughout most of her life. But no matter all her complaints about it, Shouji and Mashiba always stayed with the old traditional customs and greetings. Although, she hated the greeting, she dipped her head in return and entered into her home, as the two guards stepped apart, making way for her.

Entering in the thin front hallway, Yukino slid off her shoes and wandered into the Hyuuga compound, "I'm home!" She called out into the mansion-like complex and after a few seconds a pair of light footsteps could be heard pitter-pattering on the cherry wooded floors; Yukino smiled faintly to herself as she already had full knowledge of who the footsteps belonged to. From around the hallway's corner, jogged a beaming blonde with rather short inwardly curled straight bob-styled hair and light pearl-white colored eyes. The girl was awfully small and petite with a slender and adorable frame that adorned a cream colored short sleeved shirt with a matching pair of charcoal capris, on her feet were a pair of gray socks; this was little Kanna, youngest daughter of Naruto and Hinata by seven years old. She's yet to master any special techniques, but is slightly talented in close range combat to be of her young age; Kanna wishes to be a weapon's expert like her auntie and older cousin, Ryo, and she tries to watch him train at all his practices with his mother.

Aside from that, Kanna is a really sweet girl and enjoys helping her mother out in the kitchen or with minor house chores, if not spending time with her mother she strolls around the house either catching her two twin cousins sparring with each other or Yukino out in the back practicing on a few techniques of hers. She seems to be more quiet and observant than her sister, a quality that she acquired from her mother, but was openingly friendly with her close friends and family, to say the least.

"Welcome home, big sister." The younger blonde giggled as she approached the older sibling. Yukino grinned a bit as she knelt down, ruffling the top of Kanna's neatly brushed hair, "Heh, hey there, Kanna. Anythin' new happen today, while I was out?"

Kanna wriggled a bit in place at the sudden ruffling as she closed one of her eyes, "Nothing really, I was in the kitchen helping Mama and Auntie with dinner. Cousin Ryo and Cousin Kyo are out back."

Yukino gave a chuckling smile as she glance tentatively from the corners of her eyes to the wall on the side of her, "As usual . . ."

Kanna giggled at this reaction from her older sister.

"Welp," Yukino grinned as she stood up to her original height. "Wanna come and watch them with me, Kanna?" She smiled down to her younger sister, who returned the smile back, nodding her head. "Sure, big sister." Kanna beamed as she reached up for the older blonde's hand and gripped it lightly in her own. The two siblings wandered off in the direction leading to the back garden's training area, the distant sounds of metallic clanking and aggressive battle grunts and yelps echoing into the back of the Hyuuga compound. Kanna was growing more and more excited on the inside; she loved watching her older family members spar.

Approaching the back of the house (well, partly), Yukino opened the back door, only to be greeted with a speeding kunai flying rapidly her way; Kyo having dodged the fatal attack and glancing over her slender shoulder finding the two blondes, grunted lowly under her breath as she switched her position in the air and charged after the sharp weapon, appearing just in front of Yukino and Kanna, deflecting the kunai with one of her own, "What are you doing out here?" Kyo demanded right before she jumped back into the practice against her twin brother, who also noticed the two Uzumakis'.

Slightly shocked, Kanna stared up to her cousins, surprised by the near hit her or either Yukino could've received. Yukino, who seemed unfazed by this, glanced up to the wavy haired brunette, "What does it look like? Kanna and I just wanted to watch you guys for a while."

Swinging a roundhouse kick at the left side of her brother's face, Kyo grunted as he blocked the attack with the forearms of his arms, pushing her back and they both landed on the grassy ground in unison, an almost silent thudding of their matching shoes hitting the ground. The Hyuuga twins always were serious about their sparring exercises that it was near inspiring for shinobi who were watching them from the sidelines, although the two seemed highly compatible and in sync with each other's movements, the Fifth decided that it would be bad for the siblings to be on the same squad with each other. They were upset about it at first, but went along with Tsunade's decision.

Hyuuga Kyo, the oldest daughter of Neji and Tenten; she's bright and is very competitive in anything, but loves to poke fun and tease her twin brother Ryo. She has short coffee brown colored hair that tickles the top of her shoulders, and her eyes are the usual pupil-less pearl white of the Hyuuga. Kyo fitted a sleeveless white Chinese button up shirt with a mid-neck length collar, which curved nicely and complimented her well-developed torso with a matching pair dark gray ANBU pants clinging to her legs. Although, she was a shinobi of the Leaf, she didn't wear her symbolic headband. Kyo is highly skilled in dealing and calculating her chakra use in combat and also specializes in the Hyuuga's custom Gentle Fist technique. As she accepts the fact that the Uzumaki siblings are a part of her family, Kyo dislikes Yukino and Kanna (her anger more pointed towards Yukino, since she's the oldest). Kyo doesn't like them for the fact that the family sees the two best fit to take the future inheritance of the family since they were born of one of the Main Branch members. She sees them as a cursed mixed breed from the Jinchuriki holder and the shy weak Hinata. Kyo tries to hide away her detest, but her anger seems to brew heavier when around Yukino's presence.

And as for Hyuuga Ryo the youngest of the siblings, he actually likes Kanna and Yukino (although his bond is more closer with Kanna); Ryo can easily get along with just about everyone in the village, if he isn't working on perfecting his aim (if that were possible, he's an ace-aimer and shot) and speed weaponry techniques, with the help of his mother, Hyuuga Tenten. He has short coffee brown colored hair that tickles the top of his shoulders, it's straight and he sometimes wears it in a low loose ponytail; his eyes are a mirror match with his older sister's, with no pupils. He was sporting a dark gray long sleeved male's Chinese shirt and a pair of black ANBU pants; his matching Konoha headband strapped around his head, the symbol against his pale forehead.

"You can't just come barging in here. A little warning next time would be nice." Kyo growled, minus giving the two sisters a glance.

Yukino scoffed a bit as she placed her hand on her hip, "Rude as always." She muttered to herself as her and Kanna both took a seat on the back patio side-by-side each other.

"Byakugan!" the two twins chanted in unison as they readied themselves back into their battle stances; Ryo reaching for his back pouch as Kyo stood in the Hyuuga battle stance, her chakra laid out across the palms of her pale hands, blazing faintly. She narrowed her eyes over to Ryo who seemed to be standing in a stance very much resembling his mother's technique; a readied Chinese combat position with two kunai in his tightened grip, he wore a stern expression on his face.

"Chakra against skilled weaponry . . . this should be good." Yukino noted, making Kanna look up over to her with a questioning glance, but she chose to ignore asking any questions and turned back to watch the twin siblings battle things out. Kyo was the first of them to act; she yelped a small battle cry as she charged over to her brother with a swift and quite refined speed, concentrating her chakra in the palms of her hands; Ryo on the other end, leaned into a backflip tossing his two kunai over at his sister. She halted in her steps as she quickly deflected this with her quick hand gestures, earning a gentle clinking of them hitting the ground.

Ryo landed on the ground in a crouch and cautiously climbed to his feet, and without a word of warning, he ripped his hand from out of his back pouch and leapt over his sister's head in a beautiful arc, all the while, shooting many various knives, shuriken and kunai down at her. Kyo gasped at this as she rolled out of the way nearly getting cut along her leg in doing so and she shot a few shuriken up to Ryo, returning the favor. He twisted himself easily within the air, dodging the weapons, "Are you actually trying, Kyo?" He asks down to her as he landed quite bird-like on the edge of the compound's roof. "You haven't even landed a hit yet."

Kyo growled a bit, "I would be able to, if you weren't keeping me busy with dodging those stupid kunai every five seconds."

"It's my specialty, you can't be angry at that, dear sister." He smiled down to her. "Besides, you should be able to at least get a few hits in, just in case you encounter an enemy with the same ideal way of combat as me."

"He is right." A deep voice took agreement from the patio. Kyo, Yukino and Kanna all glanced towards the back door, finding a cross armed Hyuuga Neji standing within the doorway; his long coffee brown hair tumbling down his back. "You shouldn't let yourself be angered at your opponent for having the upper hand in battle; you should try to figure out another solution to overcome that weakness."

Ryo nodded at this in silence as he peered down to his father and cousins from the rooftop, "Hello Father." He greeted the older Hyuuga. Neji looked up to his son and nodded his head curtly in acknowledgment. "You two have gotten a bit better."

"Thank you, Father, but we could use more practice, I'm sure." Kyo straightened herself out as she started over towards the patio; Ryo sliding down the edge of the roof and landing just in front of Yukino, who flinched a bit. "That we could." he agreed with his sister.

"Practice is used for everyone in training, everyone could use it. Even your mother and I have to practice our skills at our age." Neji told them with a faint smile hinting upon his facial features. "Aside from that, dinner is just about ready. Why don't you four head inside and get changed?"

"Yes, Father." The twins said at once with a simple nod. Yukino and Kanna slowly climbed to their feet and nodded their heads as well. Neji nodded in return as he turned and headed on inside as the young ones soon followed after; Kyo glaring at the back of Yukino's head from time to time. With the elder Hyuuga leading the way back into the house, everything seemed quite tense and heavy; the only sounds were the clicking of their footsteps over the wooden floorboards.

"You were great with your new aerial attack, Ryo-kun." Kanna smiled up to the brown haired Genin as she held his hand without hesitation, breaking the echoing silence. Ryo looked down to her, returning her smile, "Thank you, Kanna-chan. Maybe I could teach it to you someday." He replied.

"Really? That would be so cool!" She beamed happily at her favorite cousin. Ryo couldn't help his gentle round of laughter. Yukino, who had been walking alongside Kanna, smiled at the two. She was happy to see that Kanna had, had someone else to keep her company other than herself or their mother . . . their late father couldn't very much play with her.

Blinking silently, Yukino felt a pair of eyes piercing into the back of her head and she glanced back from the corners of her eyes, feeling a sign of accomplishment for correctly guessing who the glarer was; Kyo. Yukino never understood why the young konoichi seemed to hate her so much, but she clearly returned the favor.

 _'The stupid Jinchuriki wench . . . ,'_ Kyo hissed at the older blonde sibling within her thoughts as the five Hyuuga turned into the kitchen, finding a softly chuckling Tenten and Hinata setting the long table for the family. Kanna beamed at the sights of her mother and ran over, hugging the older female Hyuuga's leg, "Mm, Mama, dinner sure smells yummy."

"Hehe, well, Auntie Tenten helped tonight." Hinata smiled lovingly down to her daughter, stroking her fingers in her blonde locks, and then turned her gaze towards her cousin. "Neji-niisan, did you get Father, by any chance?"

"Yes, Uncle should be down shortly." Neji answered, gesturing for everyone to enter into the kitchen; all the young children did as asked and seated themselves at the long table at an already readied plate –Yukino sitting just beside Kanna, with their mother on the side of the eldest while Ryo and Kyo sat opposite of them. After Hiashi climbed down the stairs from his study, dinner slowly went under way.

 **\- -The Nara compound- -**

"I'm home," Keisuke droned as he entered into the family compound. He slid off his shoes and followed the narrow front hallway until he smelled a distant aroma brush against his nostrils; he figured that his mom had gotten home early this time around and was fixing dinner. Keisuke smiled faintly at the thought; his mother's meals weren't exactly professional, but it had its unflappable, colorful blends that always made them taste delightful, even though they didn't seem to turn out the way they were supposed to be in appearance.

As he neared the kitchen, the young bleached haired blonde peered into the room with a lazily wandering gaze until his eyes landed on the older bleached haired blonde who was humming gently to herself, chopping away at a few vegetables that she seemed to want to add to the simmering pot on top of the stove appliance sitting away just a few centimeters from the oak wooden counter that she was using.

Entering into the room, Keisuke gave a short yawn, "It's too high." he stated leisurely as he gradually made his way over towards the stove, turning down the eye's heat. "That amount of heat could burn the bottom of the pot at that degree."

Ino glanced up over to her son, slowly pausing in her steady chopping beat, "Oh, Keisuke haha. Welcome home, how was your squad's mission?"

The younger blonde heaved a heavy sigh, "It was such a drag . . ." he started, "the Hokage had us do another D-rank mission and _as usual_ Yukino had to make a big fuss about it."

"Oh? What was it this time, hm?" Ino hummed with a slightly amused smile prancing over her face.

"A retrieve and capture mission. It was way too bothersome, to tell you the truth . . . a report filed of a missing cat that ran away from home. What a drag . . ." Keisuke huffed out as he stalked over to the family's kitchen table, pulled out a wooden chair and then plopped down taking a seat. "The owner of the thing was too clingy to have a pet, heh, I sorta felt bad for him. I see why he ran off like that."

At the explanation, Ino couldn't help her small round of laughter as she concluded her chopping of peppers and veggies and scooped them into a small bowl only to pour the contents into the simmering pot. "Well, you're only at Genin level, so you shouldn't be expecting much with assigned missions from Hokage-sama. You'll get there, you'll see. Why, haha, I remember back in the day all the crazy missions my team had to go through when I was starting out as a shinobi –"

"Ugh, not another one of your back in the day tales . . ." Keisuke groaned, rubbing at the side of his head in a weary, lazy manner. Ino humphed as she reached for a wooden spoon and started to mix in the substances of tonight's dinner; she flared a playful glare over towards her one and only son from over her shoulder, "Hey now, you runt. You're starting to sound like that smart-alecky father of yours." She stated as she switched the eye back to the degrees she had it before, ignoring her son's words of caution.

"Aw man, I just had to walk in on some trouble, huh?" groaned a leisured and tired voice from the kitchen's entrance way. "A guy can't even go out and run a quick errand without some more kind of trouble."

Ino and Keisuke both glance over towards the kitchen's door-less doorway and they both gave a simultaneous and identical faint smile over towards the Nara father of the household, Nara Shikamaru himself. The lazy Jonin heaved a low breath as he shrugged of his sleeveless shinobi's vest and hung it on the edge of one of the table's chairs. He gave a short yawn, plopping down into a chair just across from his son.

"Hey, Dad," Keisuke greeted the ponytailed brunette. At this, Shikamaru gave a curt nod with closed eyes and then he glanced over towards his beautiful, bleached haired blonde wife and gave her a short, lazy grin, "Hey there, Ino. What's cookin' for dinner?"

"Just miso soup." she responded and this earned a quick groan from the two Nara men. Ino blinked at this and puffed up her cheeks slightly in frustration as she spun on them, shooting the two a heavy and even glare, "Seriously?" she questioned them. "I work my butt off all day down at the flower shop, spending almost half that time at the market to get these ingredients and come home early to make my dear loving family a decent, hot meal for the night and I get a "ugh . . ." as I response of "thank you"? Uh-uhn, I don't think so. You two better wise on up and stop acting like a pair of lazy bums." she ranted. Shikamaru and Keisuke both shared a quick glance amongst one another before looking back up to the fuming female blonde.

"We didn't even say anything . . ." Shikamaru sweat dropped with his nodding son.

"Whatever; a "thank you" could still be appreciated." she countered.

The two males only gave a short, tentative chuckle as they smiled up to Ino. Keisuke paused in mid-chuckle as he caught a slight irony scent in the air –the scent almost seeming like hot coal. He stared up blankly to his mother, "Hey mom . . ." he started. "Did you cut the eye up again, after I warned you not to?"

Ino blinked her light blue eyes at that query, "Hm?" She hummed quietly and glanced over her shoulder, finding the miso soup starting to bubble over the top of the pot. The blonde gave a quick shriek as she darted over back towards the stove, "Dammit! This was my favorite pot to!" Ino groaned as she quickly lowered the heat of the eye and stirred the dinner within the pot.

Keisuke and his father merely sweat dropped in unison at the female blonde's antics, "So troublesome . . ." the two of them grumbled under their breath as they watched the woman of their life panic hysterically.

 ** _to be continued . . ._**


	2. Day out in the town!

Naruto Shippuden:TNG-Deeper Bonds

 **Author: MoonLightDaiyz**

 _The new generation of ninja has come; a younger and stronger era of ninja in training, born of your favorite ninjas! A new Jinchuriki as well as a new blonde, orange hyper-active, second knuckle-headed ninja in Konoha!_

 _Yukino is a sixteen year old Genin of Konohagakure. For sixteen years of her life, Yukino has been completely clueless from the fact that she's a Jinchuriki, holder of the legendary and evil Kyuubi. With her father gone, the Kyuubi's power awakening from its long slumber nearly driving the teen crazy, and backstabbing rogue ninjas and close allies scoping out and betraying the young girl; what will all this unleash onto village of Konoha?_

* * *

 _Chapter Two_

 **Deeper Bonds:** Day out on the town!

Alternate Title: **My Treat, Ramen!**

The early morning sun slowly rose into the sky and shone brightly over the village of Konohagakure; the daily bustle of shop keepers and shinobi waltzing the streets, falling into their daily routines; some were making quick idle chit-chat amongst one another as they prepared their shops for the usual morning rush that was to come. The typical day of the week settlement.

It was a warming Wednesday, early time of 7:18AM and many villagers were opening their closed windows, greeting the fresh morning air and gentle rays of the sun. Today seemed to have a peaceful quality to it, it seemed, and the people of Konoha wanted to take advantage of such good weather, especially the young shinobi in training, since much didn't seem to be appointed in their schedules, they had the day off to do as they pleased.

\- -In front of the Uchiha compound- -

"Don't do anything reckless, Satoshi." A beaming pink haired woman called after the ebony haired boy as she dried her hands off on a thin yellow washcloth. Satoshi rolled his dark onyx eyes at this as he turned his head back to his mother, "Yes, Mother. I'll be alright, I'm sixteen now. Don't you think you can have a little more trust in me?" He chuckled softly as he waved her off and exited through the large gates of the Uchiha compound, the iron gates closing after him.

Uchiha Sakura sighed softly to herself as she watched after her only son, "A lot can happen when you're that age ..." She said quietly to herself as she smiled faintly after him, remembering the many struggles she herself along with the village had to go through and endure around when she was of that age. She then shook her head faintly and turned around, entering back into the home to finish with the morning chores.

 **\- -Satoshi- -**

Sighing heavily, Satoshi leisurely strode through the bustling morning rush, on his way towards the direction of the training fields. He wanted to practice on his Taijutsu along with his other shinobi abilities, but for some reason, he enjoyed close combat more than anything else. The activity sounded like a pretty good idea to him since he hadn't planned anything today, what with the slight lacking of mission assignments as of lately.

Many passing villagers said their good morning greetings to the teenage Uchiha prodigy and he waved or either nodded his acknowledgements, "Good morning." He would say to them in a low gruff, but tenor voice. Some faces, Satoshi noticed in the crowds and found them familiar; his teammate, Nara Keisuke was walking alongside his father. He seemed pretty tired ...but, with Keisuke, when was that ever a surprise? Taking just after his father, the young Nara is very intelligent and a brilliant strategist, yet he's just as lazy as his father ever was back in the day. Satoshi and Yukino would both have to nag at him from time to time about his indolent behavior, but other than that, Keisuke was a pretty good shinobi if anything else. Satoshi scoffed a faint chuckle at the thought; just like his father, Satoshi is pretty cocky and a bit stuck up since he's the village's lone Uchiha "prodigy" and was nominated as Rookie of the Year in Academy rankings back when they were training to be qualified as ninja.

As if noticing his presence, Keisuke glanced over to Satoshi and gave him a simple and tired curtly nod, stifling back a drowsy yawn, nearly mimicking his father beside of him. What a mirror image the two were of each other, more in personality, and taste in clothing than physical appearance; Keisuke was granted his mother's looks more than his father. Satoshi shook his head at the fact, chuckling a bit under his breath and making a quick hand sign, the young boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke within thin air.

 **\- -Training Grounds- -**

A high pitched grunt rang through the still air, soon after followed by a **_thunking_** sound, which seemed to sound like something hollow and blunt.

"Hey, that one almost scraped me!" a familiar pearl eyed blonde snapped over to what seemed to a mirror image of herself. She scowled faintly as she gave a measuring with her index finger and her thumb towards the copy of herself. "It came this close!" she fumed, glaring between the kunai that was embedded in the side of the tree trunk and the identical girl.

"It didn't hit ya, so what's the big deal? Don't be such a baby." The latter blonde crossed her arms over her chest, sticking her tongue out towards the original. Yukino's eyebrows furrowed a bit as she growled, rushing over and tackling the lookalike down to the ground; the two grunting in the process as they wrestled amongst the grassy ground.

"You're so annoyin'!"

"Ugh! That makes two of us! A-ack! D-did ...did you just freakin' bite me?"

"Don't whine, you sound like such a sissy!"

"So you're out here arguing with yourself, Uzumaki?" a soft voice chuckled from high amongst the trees' branches. Both girls halted in their quarreling and glanced about the area with blinking eyes. A throaty chuckle hummed in a deep, velvety tone from within the trees and then there was a gentle crunch of grass as someone landed into the training fields. Both Yukinos' whipped their heads over in the sound's direction finding none other than Uchiha Satoshi.

Leaning up from his crouch that he landed in, Satoshi eased himself up to his original height of 170.2 cm and then gave a little, teasing smirk, turning halfway away to take his chin between his thumb and index finger as he watched her from the corners of his eyes. "And here I thought you were out here doing some serious training. Heh, guess that, that's what I get for thinking positive of you for a change."

Growling under her breath, the original Yukino quickly scrambled up to her feet and rushed over towards the smirking boy, readying to aim her wound up fist at him. Her arm was cocked back and ready for launch as she neared him. Satoshi simply swayed off to the side, chuckling faintly with a teasing narrowed gaze, "Heh," he chimed.

"Ugh, you stupid Baka Uchiha!" she screeched, pointing her fist over at him after she'd regained her footing. From being so frustrated, Yukino wasn't concentrating on her clone and like a thin of air **_-poof-_** she was gone. Ignoring it, the pearl eyed blonde furrowed her eyes over to the Uchiha, "What are you even doin' here anyways?"

"Haha, what? Do I seem that good, that I don't even have to train in your perspective?" Satoshi grinned over to her and then breathed a faint jitter of a chuckle. "Heh, the admiration is adorable."

"Grr! Shut your face!"

A faint quirk tipped at the corner of his mouth as he tried to keep in a small chuckle from the Uzumaki's antics. He faced her completely as he tucked his hand onto his hip, "Anyways, dobe –"

"Don't call me that!" She yells, pointing at him.

"Heh, why not we have a little sparring match since we're both here. I mean, you wouldn't be much of a challenge," he smirked as he slowly fell into the Uchiha taijutsu stance, "but, I guess I can take what I can get, right?"

Yukino's face brewed into an angered pink as she tightened her glare over towards him, "Tch, you're such a narcissistic asshole." She scoffed as she swiftly transitioned into her family's Gentle Fist, poised and waiting. The two rivals narrowed their eyes over to one another; Satoshi smirking faintly as Yukino's left eye twitched in annoyance, her eyes piercing against muscles to activate her Byakugan. Satoshi merely grinned at this faintly as he mentally activated his Sharingan.

Without an uttered word, Yukino exclaimed a short battle cry as she swiftly shot over towards the Uchiha, aiming an open palm fist directed at his stomach. Satoshi immediately leapt back, leaning into a short series of backflips and glanced up, flicking his blazing red gaze over towards the blonde. With a soft chuckle, Satoshi ran at her at a full, refined sprint, seeming to have disappeared for a split second and appeared at her side. Yukino gritted her teeth as her eyes caught a glimpse of the black haired boy on the side of her, pulling his leg back far behind him. She grunted lowly as she crossed her arms in front of herself, blocking his attack with her forearms. But she smirked faintly to herself, twisting on her heel, whirling about in a roundhouse kick –aiming her right foot directly towards Satoshi's side, "Haah!" she exclaimed in a competitive and gritty tone of voice.

Grunting lowly under his breath, Satoshi leapt back, dodging the attack. Quick on his feet, he huffed a rapid breath as he reached out and gripped both his hands around Yukino's stretched out ankle and soon she was off of her feet as Satoshi snatched her from off the ground and whipped her harshly, releasing her from his grasp and she was sent hurdling towards a wide tree with a short gasp. With swift reflexes, she rapidly re-registered herself, bouncing from off the tree with a soft **_-tak!-_** of her navy blue sandals. She speedily repelled herself off the tree's trunk, taking aim over towards Satoshi, her arm cocked back. The young Uchiha grinned as he leaned back slightly, his arms held both offensively and defensively, "Heh," he smirked softly to himself.

Yukino thrusts her fist forward, only to have Satoshi sway out of the attacks' way with a soft chuckle. With a "tch", Yukino landed on the ground in a half crouch, catching herself, and then glared her active Byakugan up to Satoshi as she quickly eased up and launched a barrage of punches and kicks at the Uchiha. He skillfully blocked the attacks in flawless ease, having to step backwards from the intense force behind Yukino's flurry of ongoing attacks.

The blonde growled lowly under her breath as she ducked down and flipped in a refined arch, into a steady handstand and swiftly slid her legs into a full split and twisted around, aiming her legs against Satoshi's head, but he jerked back, ducking just under her whirling kicks. As he ducked down, he snatched at her wrists and jerked her upward, tossing her into the air.

"Heh, nice combination. Busy your opponent in a flurry of intense hits and while they're distracted in trying to recover, you launch a barrage of whirlwind kicks at the skull. But too sad that it won't work on me. You leave too many openings naked to spot with my Sharingan; I could easily counter your viewable attack." Satoshi's lips quirked faintly upward at that.

Twisting herself around, Yukino glared down to the Uchiha with a competitive grin, "Wow ...was that _almost_ like a compliment?" she joked and Satoshi laughed quietly before he leapt from his spot on the ground towards the airborne Yukino. Like a rush of wind, Satoshi harshly jammed his knee into Yukino's side –not hard enough to internally injure her, but enough to send her falling at a brash speed and colliding into the ground with a resounding thud; dirt clouds wafted up from the ground faintly where Yukino's body crash landed. Silently, Satoshi landed on the ground a few feet away from the crash. His Sharingan was still sharp, burning crimson holes through the slowly billowing dirt clouds as he placed his hand onto his left hip, waiting for Yukino's response to his attack.

A quick blur of orange flashed amongst the clouds, catching his Sharingan as it rushed directly over towards his way with such a brash speed, "Graahh!" Yukino growled out loudly. As if second nature, Satoshi fell into his battle stance and quickly blocked the blonde's airborne kick. Yukino gritted her teeth at this and whirled around, still in the air, and launched a heavy punch down to him. He caught her hand and twisted on his heels, tossing her again. She was sent flying and skidded across the ground, "A-ah!" she yelped out just above her usual loud tone. She grunted lowly to herself as she slowly pushed herself up from the ground, "Grr ...I'm not done yet, teme ..." she growled.

"Sure, but I am," chimed Satoshi in a smooth and calm voice as he flashed just in front of her with his hands in his pockets, his Sharingan slowly fading back to his usual onyx black eye color. Yukino's eyes widened as she glanced up to him from down on the ground, "Huh?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide in a comical manner.

"You're pretty quick on your feet and actually kept up with me this time." Satoshi stated as he trailed his eyes to the side of himself, watching the vacant air nonchalantly. "Guess I could use more training after all."

"What?" the blonde stared up to him in disbelief. "You come out here and interrupt _my_ training, challenge me and then just quit? What the hell is that?" she seethed, jumping up to her feet and waving a raised fist up to him. Closing his eyes, Satoshi turned on his heels and started off towards the village, "Sheesh, don't whine, it's so uncute. Just come on, I'll even treat you to some Ichiraku Ramen."

"Why I oughta ..." she growled, trailing off, but blinked her eyes –deactivating her Byakugan. "Ichiraku Ramen?" she repeated and then her mood completely changed as she jogged after her male teammate. "Hey, Uchiha! Wait up!" She called after him.

 **\- -Ichiraku Ramen- -**

"Heh-heh! Thanks, Pops!" Yukino gave the elder man a bright and awfully wide grin as she grabbed the bowl full of noodles and broth, along with other favored special ingredients, seasonings and peppers, and it seemed that her pearl eyes sparkled in excitement with a faint waver to them. She chuckled lowly to herself as she placed the bowl down on the table, gave a small sniffle of its delicious flavor as she gripped her wooden chopsticks, breaking them in half. The blonde lightly stabbed the chopsticks into the noodles, only to lower her head and wrap her lips around the wooden utensils, nomming happily on the ramen.

Satoshi watched her from the corners of his eyes with a twitching eyebrow. "Ugh ...you sure don't eat like you're a girl ..." he trailed off, sweat dropping. Yukino glanced up from the noodles and looked over towards the Uchiha. She tilted her head to the side, her lips puckered in mid-slurp of the noodle that hung between her lips. Satoshi eyed the noodle silently for a moment, before he closed his eyes and pointed over to it, "Um ...you have a little something right there –" he started, but Yukino muffled a small laugh as she casually slurped the noodle into her mouth, it smacking against her lips slightly before consumption.

"Ugh ...you'd think that I'd be used to that after knowing you for fourteen years ..." he shook his head.

"Shuddup," Yukino muffled past a mouthful of noodles and broth, "you shound like sucha girl~" she finished, with her mouth still quite full.

"Try chewing your food first, before you start trying to talk, will you?"

"Haha, maybe I don't wanna –"

"What a surprise to see the two of you here," came a calm, laidback tone of voice from behind the two of them. They both glanced over their shoulders, spotting their teammate, Keisuke, with his father just behind him. Keisuke tilted his head to the side with a soft scoff, "And I mean that with noted sarcasm." He continued.

"Nara." Satoshi stated in a rather low and hard tone. Keisuke rolled his eyes over to the boy only to narrow them faintly, "Uchiha." He responded with a huff.

"Haha, Uzumaki!" Yukino exclaimed, pumping her fist into the air with closed eyes and a bright smile. She snickered to herself before she leaned back down to continue consuming her ramen. Satoshi and Keisuke both sweat dropped at her knuckleheaded behavior. She seemed to always act out like this once she had some ramen placed down in front of her.

 _'Just like the Naruto when back when ...,'_ Nara Shikamaru smirked to himself within thought as he stood just behind his son with his hands tucked away into his pockets. He watched the young shinobi converse to each other, their words silent as his thoughts traced back to when he was about their age with his comrades, goofing off whenever they were free from missions. They acted about the same way when they were younger; Satoshi acting within a nice blend between Sakura and Sasuke, Keisuke reminding him of himself when he was that age and Yukino ...Shikamaru couldn't even think of her acting less of Naruto back in the day.

"You are such a drag ..." Keisuke murmured, holding his hand at the side of his head. Satoshi smirked faintly at that, "Heh, now there's something we could agree on."

Yukino glanced between the two, "Whatever! At least I'm not a lazy," she stated, pointing over to Keisuke, "or a cocky bastard." She humphed as she pointed over to Satoshi. The two boys blinked their eyes in unison; Satoshi quirking a faint chuckle as he stared over towards the pearl-eyed blonde. She closed her eyes in annoyance as she went back to eating her favorite meal and snack.

Shikamaru gave another oh-so faint smile as he continued to watch team four before he turned on his heels, waving his hand lazily over his broadened shoulder. With a quiet sigh, he droned slothfully, "I guess I'll leave you to it, then. Have your fun, but be back at the house at around a decent hour. You know how loud your mother can be." At that statement, Keisuke glanced over his shoulder towards the back of his father with a casual nod of his head, "Alright, Dad." He replied, before taking a seat on the other side of Yukino, who was back to happily nomming at her ramen noodles.

Satoshi and Keisuke watched her with a slight twitch of their eyes. The blonde male slowly turned his gaze from her with an expression of distaste passing over his facial features, "I never thought a person alone could make a dish so ghastly."

 _'She's too much of a tomboy, to be considered as a girl ...,'_ the two males trailed off amongst their thoughts.

After slurping up another round of ramen noodles, Yukino turned her face over into Keisuke's direction, "Hey!" she exclaimed over to him, making him flinch slightly and give her a narrow eyed glance. "Yeah?" he responded in a quiet, skeptical tone as she hummed a small giggle, easing into his face slightly, "Heh, are you gonna order something, Kei-kun? If you're not hungry, then can you order something and just give it to me –"

"Not going to happen." Satoshi cut her off as he prompted his elbow on top the counter, laying his chin into the palm of his hand, closing his eyes. Yukino glared faintly, whipping her head over towards his direction, "And why the hell not?"

"Maybe because I'm sort of already treating you to some ramen?" Satoshi prompted as a question with a quirk of his eyebrow. He was treating her, why the hell did Keisuke have to come along like this? Satoshi was paying for her after all; he didn't like the thought of Yukino eating a meal that, that Nara had gotten her right in front of him instead of something he had gotten her.

"And not doin' a pretty good job at it. I'm still hungry, Uchiha." Yukino rolled her eyes, before she turned her attention over towards Keisuke, beaming gently with a pleading tilt of her head. "Please, Kei-kun? I'm _starving_ ..." she trailed off, her tone overdramatic and drawled out. Keisuke watched her from the corners of his eyes with a bored faint pout of his lips, and after a few moments, he lowered his head, sighing. "I suppose if you're going to continue asking for more ...but this is all the money I've carried on me today, so this is going to have to be your last bowl from me."

Yukino perked up, folding her arms behind her head, "Heh-heh, okay! Thanks, Kei-kun!" she grinned over to him widely, closing her eyes. The male blonde shook his head slowly as he called over for the ramen chef to come over to him and take down his ...well, Yukino's order, technically.

 **to be continued . . .**


	3. 14—Fourteen

**Hello there, dear readers. MoonLightDaiyz here with an update for the fanfiction Naruto Shippuden: The Next Generation—Deeper Bonds. My apologies for the late update on this story, but I figured that something was better than nothing, am I right? So, I decided that I could add some fillers to keep pace and at least add an outside look to the characters within the story, since there is undoubtedly A LOT of them, ha ha. I made it noticeable in case many people do not want to read them and want to continue with the original whole of the story instead of side plots for the hell of it. The title will look like the one below "Deeper Bonds: Filler Input" with the alternate title holding a number and a label, which is the number in the line I had made it. Whereas in for the chapter title in the contents will only be a number to make things easier. Kinda weird? Hopefully you'll get use to it over time.**

* * *

Naruto Shippuden: TNG **—** Deeper Bonds

 **Author: MoonLightDaiyz**

 _The new generation of ninja has come; a younger and stronger era of ninja in training, born of your favorite ninjas! A new Jinchuriki as well as a new blonde, orange hyper-active, second knuckle-headed ninja in Konoha!_

 _Yukino is a sixteen year old Genin of Konohagakure. For sixteen years of her life, Yukino has been completely clueless from the fact that she's a Jinchuriki, holder of the legendary and evil Kyuubi. With her father gone, the Kyuubi's power awakening from its long slumber nearly driving the teen crazy, and backstabbing rogue ninjas and close allies scoping out and betraying the young girl; what will all this unleash onto village of Konoha?_

* * *

 **Deeper Bonds:** Filler Input

Alternate Title: _ **#14 - Barbeque Outing**_

 **\- -Konohagakure,** **Niku no Shokudō** **\- -**

With a soft breath, a calm brunette closed her dark eyes as she stood from the booth that she and her squad, Konoha One, were occupying for the evening. It was a simple, small eatery where meats were served into delicious food's that left many mouth-watery and wanting more. Mostly skewed meats and the always famous barbecued cooked cuisines. The three-man squad had agreed to dine and hang out, since they weren't assigned to any mission assessments for the day. For Team One, today was a time spent in leisure and relaxation; Hiroo's treat, since he was the one to oh-so kindly take to offer and pay for the meal.

A young man with slightly tanned skin and hair a shaggy, dark brown color, was currently playing a tug-of-war with his food, the meat being a little tough. His dark red eyes bore in slit pupils, just as his father, Inazuka, Kiba. The red tattooed fangs upon his cheeks would be evidence enough of his decadency from within the Inazuka Clan. Kyousuke glanced up, his mouth full of barbequed, skewed beef—which hung partially out of the corner of his mouth as he jerked his attention up and over to the female party of the team, "Wassup, Chizu? Ya don't like the food or somethin'?" he muffled through his morsel-mouthful. This catching his faint interest as well, Hiroo sweat dropped as he noticed his canine friend's poor eating mannerisms, with an added sulk of his shoulders.

"Try chewing your food, dog-boy." came Chizuru's calm and blunt reply. The only child of the village's loner, Abruame, Shino. Her long darkened hair, with the slight touch of brown, but otherwise seeming black, cascading down her back in a full and think straightness, stopping just under hindquarters—a long side bang covering over the front of the right side of the young woman's face.

Hearing that usual blunt and crude comment, simply made the Inazuka boy chuckle as he leans his head back and gulped down the rest of the meat down his throat, and thirstily licked the leftover barbeque sauce from around his lips, "Heh heh." He beamed a sporty grin up to her. Chizuru merely gave a harsh look of disgust as she watched his flat tongue consume the thick sauce from his mouth, only for him to swallow it down as if it were some kind of drink.

Her eyes narrowed slightly after a few silent moments as she stared down to him, "You're becoming more and more like an untamed mutt every day, dog-boy." she hissed down to him in a monotone voice. Kyousuke stared up to her, before he broke into a large, fang-like grin, "That's what trainin's for, Chi-Chi. C'mon, train me~ I promise that I'll be a good boy for ya, and I won't even bite…unless ya beg me to." His grin seemed to widen as he leaned in his forearm among the top of the table, slowly easing over towards the eyebrow twitching Abruame.

Tightening her glare, she hissed a harsh scoff as she whipped her face from out of his view quickly in annoyance, "Tch…unbelievable. You're like an annoying little horny lapdog. You don't know when to stop, no matter how many times I spray at you in the face." she grumbled, pushing herself from out of the booth. "Whatever…I'll be back." she muttered in her typical monotone voice. She silently strode away from the booth, heading towards the back of the small restaurant compound, in search of the female's restrooms.

Quietly, the two teenage males watched after Chizuru, until the brown haired boy of the two broke into an even wider grin; the smile seeming crooked and sly, but otherwise completely satisfied and impishly playful. "Heh, I think I'm startin' to wear her down," Kyousuke smirked, folding his arms behind his head in satisfaction as he closed his eyes.

Hiroo glanced up from his cup of freshly brewed tea, over towards his canine teammate and then he silently turned his gaze to follow the physique of the female heading towards the restrooms. He watched silently between them for a few moments. "I don't see it," he stated under his breath before he went back to drinking his tea.


	4. Setting out Towards Adventure

Naruto Shippuden: TNG **—** Deeper Bonds

 **Author: MoonLightDaiyz**

 _The new generation of ninja has come; a younger and stronger era of ninja in training, born of your favorite ninjas! A new Jinchuriki as well as a new blonde, orange hyper-active, second knuckle-headed ninja in Konoha!_

 _Yukino is a sixteen year old genin of Konohagakure. For sixteen years of her life, Yukino has been completely clueless from the fact that she's a Jinchuriki, holder of the legendary and evil Kyuubi. With her father gone, the Kyuubi's power awakening from its long slumber nearly driving the teen crazy, and backstabbing rogue ninjas and close allies scoping out and betraying the young girl; what will all this unleash onto village of Konoha?_

* * *

 _Key Notes of Titles and Terms_

 ** _*Haha/Otousan_** _= father_

 ** _*Ojisan_** _= uncle_

 ** _*Sofu/Ojiisan_** _= grandfather_

 ** _*Chichi/Okasan_** _= mother_

 ** _*Obasan_** _= auntie_

 ** _*Sobo/Obaasan_** _= grandmother_

 ** _*Ani/Oniisan_** _= older brother_

 ** _*Ototo_** _= younger brother_

 ** _*Ane/Onesan_** _= older sister_

 ** _*Imoto_** _= younger sister_

* * *

 **Deeper Bonds:** Setting out Towards Adventure!

Alternate Title: **The Mission of the Watanabe Heir**

 **\- -In front of the Hyuuga compound- -**

"Oh, Yukino? She left about a while ago, Satoshi-kun." Hinata explained as she held Kanna's small and frail hand. The tiny blonde stood just beside her mother, her head stopping at the height of Hinata's thigh. She giggled gently as she played with a few strands of the young Uchiha's long side bangs with her other hand as he was crouched down, smiling to her. He chuckled at the oh-so young Uzumaki, but kept his gaze on the shy Hyuuga, while he was just in the front of their home, out on the front doorsteps. "She said something along the lines of heading out to train for a bit, but making a few stops along the way, I suppose. She should be back around the evening, I would think."

"Onesan's always off somewhere." Kanna giggled, closing her eyes as she done so. Satoshi grinned at the comment as he stood from his crouch and then turned his eyes up to the now sunny skies with a faint smirk playing across his lips, "Yeah...she can never really sit still." He chuckled. Hinata couldn't help but chuckle along with the boy as she knew that her daughter was quite the busy body...she loved that girl with all her heart and even more if possible, but Yukino could be quite the handful—more or so like her late husband Uzumaki Naruto. Quite rambunctious and enduring like her father, Yukino is a reflecting image of him; it was as if he hadn't passed and that he was still here right beside her.

Hinata turned her lilac eyed gaze over towards her younger daughter, who was giggling amiably as she chatted with Uchiha Satoshi, "…and you promise to be careful and keep Onesan safe too?" Kanna continued with her asking, with a small tilt of her head. Satoshi grinned to the little youth, "Yeah, no worries, Kanna. As Yukino's teammate, it's my duty to keep her and myself safe."

"And Kei-kun to," Kanna added.

Satoshi blinked and rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled faintly, "Yeah...I guess I could...well, help him out a little to, I suppose." He mutters. The Uchiha and Nara sons within Team Four weren't ones to really…well take kindly towards one another.

Kanna giggled at that, with Hinata following suit close after, "You three just be safe now and watch over each other. That's what I learned when I first started out as a genin, from my squad's instructor, Kurenai-sensei; 'You three are a team now, and as a team, you three are all you have. Together you are one whole and if one link in your three-person chain is weakened, the mission will not succeed.' Ha ha, well that's what she told us." Hinata gave a shy, giggling smile down to Satoshi, who merely blinked his dark onyx colored eyes.

"Wow, she sounds pretty smart." Kanna interjected, earning a glance from her mother.

"She is, plus she's an excellent genjutsu user to boot." Hinata added. Kanna giggled faintly as she hugged her arms around Hinata's leg. Satoshi watched this, soon forgetting what Hinata had just told him and he smiled at the scene in front of him, "Heh, alright. I guess...I'll just see her somewhere in the village if we happen to bump into one another." He says.

Hinata blinked as she glanced over towards Satoshi from her daughter, "Oh...well, I suppose that's as best as a plan as any while dealing with Yukino. You'll be lucky enough to catch her."

"Ha ha, it's Yukino, so I'll need the luck." Satoshi said, giving the ebony haired woman a weary smile with a tentative sweat drop slithering down the side of his head, but he shook it off as he turned on the heels of his black sandals and lurched into a mid-run, only to flash from out of sight.

 **\- -Yukino- -**

Within the middle of the village, a blonde genin glared up to a man, who nearly peaked into his twenties or so with brown hair that spiked upward. He was cladded in a long dark green zip up jacket with a low-cut collar, a long navy blue thick scarf that wrapped around his neck and trailed down along his back, stopping just at the top of his calves. On his legs was a pair of dark, heavy brown ANBU styled pants, bandages wrapping around his legs just under the pants, showing around his ankles and tucked down into his navy blue ninja sandals.

He tucked his hands onto his hips as he heaved a short sigh, "You really have a knack of showing up when no one wants to find you, but if they really want you around, you're nowhere to be found. The irony in that is just...well, ironic." He sweat dropped, rolling his eyes to the side, seeming to take a high interest in viewing through the window of a shop nearby, rather than watch her glower up to him. Yukino puffed up her cheeks as she continued to glare up to the older shinobi, "Konohamaru-sensei! You promised that you were gonna spar with me today out in the fields."

"It's goin' to have to wait, Yukino-chan...I've been called out to head away on a mission with my genin right now. So, even _if_ I wanted to train with you, I really can't right now." The brunette explained and Yukino's cheeks seemed to puff out some more out of disappointment. She thrust her balled up hands to her sides as she ignited her glare up towards him, "You promised...!" she growled lowly up to him.

Konohamaru sweat dropped, rubbing the side of his head, his eyes still avoiding the small blonde, "Yeah...about that. I think that we're goin' to have to reschedule another time for that—"

" _What_?! But, I already wasted _five_ days waitin' on your reply to have a sparrin' match with me!"

"Hey, that's your own damn fault! Instead of waitin' on me, you could've gone and gotten someone else to spar with you if it's that big a deal!" The brunette haired sensei snapped, turning around and quickly glaring down to Yukino. The two stood in close, glowering at one another.

"Grr! Forget I even said anythin'! Let's go! Right here, right now!" Yukino sneered up to the man, and within that instant, Satoshi flashed at the side of them and was slightly taken aback by their loud arguing. He blinked his onyx colored eyes in confusion and then glanced over towards the three scared genin that stood off a short distance away from the two feuding shinobi. Turning his face back over towards Yukino and Konohamaru, Satoshi closed his eyes with a soft huff from his lips and he simply walked over and hooked an arm around Yukino's torso, tucking her just under his arm at his side. "I don't have time for this." He grumbled under his breath as he gave the blonde a small jerk under his arm and flashed off while Yukino was in mid-sentence, yelling at Konohamaru.

 **\- -Hokage's office- -**

"Eh?!" Yukino's voice exclaimed in utter surprise.

Right now, Team Miaka was standing in the Hokage's office—being requested to, for a special assignment administered from the Hokage herself. The young genin stood in front of Tsunade's wooden desk with surprised and agape expressions etched into each of their faces; Keisuke stood with blinking eyes, Satoshi mirrored the pale-headed blonde but with his hands tucked away in his pockets, and as per usual, Yukino was making a scene with her incoherent rambling from both being excited and flabbergasted by the sudden mission that they were being assigned. Miaka stood along the side of the hyper spiky haired blonde with her hand posed at her hip. The blue haired jonin merely rolled her eyes only to narrow those sapphire orbs of hers down to her young female genin, "Calm it down will you, Uzumaki? A mission isn't such a big deal."

Yukino shook her head and beamed a bright grin up to her sensei, "But, this time it's different! Not a crummy D-rank, not a lousy C-rank, not a borin' B-rank, but a whoopin'—say it again, Granny!" the blonde giggled with a pleased oh-so faint blush beaming at her cheeks. She turned on the heels of her blue sandals and waited for the older blonde's response.

Tsunade sweat dropped at the young Uzumaki's perkiness today, "It's an A-ranked mission this time around..." she muttered out.

"An A-rank mission!" Yukino gasped out excitedly. "It's about time! I can finally show you guys what I got, haha! What a _real_ ninja is made of!" Yukino cheered as she patted her chest in a boorish manner; her cocky and tomboyish exterior taking over with that wide grin of hers tearing into her face.

"Yes, yes...I'm surely certain that you can ultimately show us these wonderful skills of yours while escorting your client from Konohagakure to Hoshigakure _(Village Hidden among Stars)_ , located in the Land of Bears." Tsunade hummed as she laced her fingers together and leaned her chin amongst them as her elbows were prompt on top of her desk.

"Yeah! I'm gonna show you all on this escortin'..." Yukino froze in mid-cheer, blinking her eyes in a baffled manner, "...escortin' mission?"

 _'Idiot...,'_ Satoshi and Keisuke both thought simultaneously.

"Ahem, yes. If you'd let me finish speaking before bursting into an uproar like that, then maybe I could get the whole of the assignment to the entire team," Tsunade scolded the girl and cleared her throat. "Now, as I was saying before that little fiasco...Hoshigakure has asked for the assistance of Konohagakure on behalf of the Watanabe Clan."

Yukino gave a short pout over towards the village's Hokage as her shoulders sulked at the news of her team's assignment.

"Watanabe Clan?" Satoshi blinked his eyes nonchalantly, ignoring the blonde Uzumaki just left beside him.

"Yes," Tsunade nodded her head, her gaze locked on the team. "The Watanabe Clan is the leading high noble family within Getsugakure _(Village Hidden under the Moon)_ , connecting close ties with Hoshigakure. A few years ago, I suppose, the Inoue Clan—which is located in Hoshigakure and the Watanabe Clan have both made a pact on the merging of the two clans, combining and creating a large, noble family tree through a betrothed marriage. That's where you four come in within this agreement; the heir from the Watanabe Clan from Getsugakure is heading here to Konohagakure, but because of the many rogue ninja and various dangers about along the route passing through Konohagakure towards Hoshigakure, both families has asked of the Leaf shinobi's help in escorting and protecting the young noble future monarch on their journey to Hoshigakure."

"Like body guarding a royalty," Keisuke noted with a leisured nod. Tsunade glanced over to him at that statement, "Right, which means that our client is quite valuable goods, in a sense, putting them at higher risk of lurking kidnappers, prowlers, assassins and anyone who would want to do away with the future monarch. Both clans have entrusted the safety of their heir in the hands of Leaf shinobi, having already paid a good fee for our cooperation. So all in all, you should see how critical and how serious this mission is, you mustn't take it lightly. I trust you four will give your all in this mission."

"Understood, Lady Hokage-sama," Miaka spoke up; while placing her hand on top of an angrily pouting Yukino's shoulder. "We'll be sure to take extra precaution on this assignment."

Tsunade glanced over towards the jonin of the squad for a moment, "Alright...all has been said that needed to be. I advise that you all pack and ready yourselves for this journey—it'll be quite a long one. Your departure should be around early noon today. After all is done and taken care of, you four must meet at the village's gates, as per usual. As you head there, it is there that you should meet with your awaiting client; Watanabe Tsubasa." Tsunade finished off, and with another nod, Miaka scrambled up her genin, particularly scolding Yukino on her negative response towards the mission. The spiky haired blonde merely huffed out a displeased sigh before exiting the office.

Tsunade, who was watching the small scene play out in front of her, chuckled faintly under her breath.

"Um, Lady Hokage...wouldn't you think that Team Lee would be a more appropriate squad for this mission?" Shizune commented, leaning down only slightly to catch the amber brown gaze with the female Hokage, her favored pink pig held within her arms, "Oink..." the pork murmured.

"Yes." Tsunade responded simply, making Shizune sweat drop.

"Then why—"

"I have my reasons. You should know to trust my judgment by now, Shizune, really." Tsunade gave a small, quiet chuckle.

 **\- -Hyuuga compound- -**

Hinata giggled softly as she and her youngest daughter, Kanna, strolled along the emptied corridor while the both of them hummed a gentle melody amongst each other. They walked closely side by side, holding onto each other's hands; seeming more or less like a mother duck and her tiny duckling. Little Kanna enjoyed trailing about after Hinata most of the day, some of the other Hyuuga relatives has looked down on this for the young blonde Hyuuga's well-being, claiming that it was no way healthy for her to be so clingy to her mother like she was; as Hinata could agree with this in a way, she could only shrug it off as an adorable phase that Kanna had been going through, since she was too shy to leave out of the house on her own. Besides, Hinata had vowed to herself that she would kindly give the love to all of her children, love from a mother that she was without for most of her childhood.

It was until the two barely strolled past Yukino's bedroom, that Kanna blinked her big lilac colored eyes and peered into her older sister's room, finding her packing her favorite earthy blue backpack, "Onesan's leaving?" She gasped quietly, drawing in the attention of both Hinata and Yukino.

Yukino glanced up from stuffing the bag with an extra pair of clothes, just in case something should happen to the ones she was currently wearing—getting either torn, shredded by enemy contact, or drenched from falling into some small lake or something. It was prone to happen...she was pretty fortuitous like that for her to be a kunoichi. She watched as her mother walked into her bedroom, "Are you heading out again, Yukino dear?" she asks in a warm, but faint tone. Kanna was close at her mother's side, her tiny hands gripping gently into the side of Hinata's lavender floral print kimono.

Yukino nodded her head, "Yeah, got a new mission, and this time it's an A-ranked mission, heh-heh."

"Congratulations," Hinata beamed a small smile, "but that also means that you have to defiantly be on your toes. An A-rank mission isn't always easy."

"Yeah, I know, Ma." Yukino chuckled as she stuffed her favorite little frog shaped wallet, a passed down relic from her father; she stuffed it into her backpack with a giggling smile tracing her lips. "I'll be out of the village for a while though; it's an escortin' mission for a noble clan. Headin' out towards the Land of Bears."

"Oh, well that sounds pretty interesting," Hinata noted, unaware that Kanna had released her hold on her kimono and scampered off towards Yukino's dresser.

"I just hope that this "noble clan heir" kid isn't a stuck-up snob. That'll be real annoyin' to have to travel with." Yukino huffed out a breath as her eyebrow twitched slightly at the very thought; but she shook her head and rubbed the back of her head as she stared down to her traveling bag, as if wondering what else she needed for this trip.

"Hehe, you can't always help the client that you get assigned to. Most times, you simply have to go along with Lady Hokage's decisions. Besides, she chose your team for the assignment for a reason." Hinata explained to her eldest daughter as she placed her hand delicately on her cheek. Yukino rolled her pearl-like eyes, "I bet she did it just to annoy me."

"Hehe, I highly doubt that, Yukino," Hinata giggled, but blinked as she noticed Kanna's sudden return to her side. The small blonde was smiling faintly as she held a small white box up to her mother. Hinata gave Kanna a heartwarming smile, "Good thinking, sweetie." This comment made Yukino glance up from her bag.

Hinata gently took the box from Kanna and handed it over to Yukino, who in turn blinked her eyes, "Hm?"

"Just in case someone gets hurt," Hinata smiled. "I know that Keisuke-kun is a bit talented in the medical field, he might already be bringing a first aid kit along with him, but just in case something unexpected happens along your mission. Better safe than sorry, right?"

Yukino glanced up from the box up to her mother's smiling face and she couldn't help but give the lilac eyed woman a smile of her own, "Heh, thanks Ma. And you to, kiddo." She chuckled as she ruffled the top of Kanna's short blonde hair. The small blonde giggled gently, closing her eyes as her older sister ruffled the top of her head.

 **\- -At the Village Gates- -**

"She's late," Satoshi mumbled under his breath as he was leaning against the entrance way of the village's gates, "again." He added with a huff. He was garbed in his usual red, long-sleeved V-neck shirt covered by his favorite charcoal gray colored sleeveless vest on top of his torso. Satoshi closed his eyes as he crossed his arms over his chest. Keisuke, who was standing a few feet away from him merely shook his head in silent agreement of their blonde teammate's tardiness; the bleach haired blonde wore a bored expression on his face as he tucked his hands lazily into his pockets and Miaka simply breathed a faint dissatisfied breath.

Time was dimming close onto early noon and the village was bustling with the afternoon rush of crowds and such. Villagers wondered about tending to their own affairs, running errands or keeping shop by checking inventory or trying to advertise the goods they were selling. All was simple and thriving amongst the village...and in the middle of the bustle; a spiky haired blonde could be noticed running through the crowds, creating a low uproar among the people who she happened to pass.

"Heh-heh, sorry," Yukino chuckled as she hurried to meet with her team. "Comin' through—oops, watch it there. 'Scuse me," she continues as she squeezed through some people and jogged her way towards the village's entrance gates. As she noticed her teammates, Yukino broke into a short sprint, a small smile filling her face. "Hey guys! Ha ha, sorry I'm a little late. Ma was busy lecturin' me and whatnot about not bein' reckless on this mission and blah, blah, blah—"

"What's the point in meeting at a set time, but you always come late? Jeez, you're such a loser." Satoshi spoke up, cutting the blonde headed female off. She blinked at the out-of-the-blue statement and then gave an annoyed pout, "Oh shut it, Baka Uchiha."

He scoffed under his breath, "Ah, is somebody mad? I don't see a reason for the attitude and _you_ weren't the one standing here waiting. No, _you_ were the one here _late_. Yeah, that sounds about right." Satoshi teased, crossing his arms over his chest and closed his onyx colored eyes from view.

 _'Here we go again…,'_ Keisuke sighed within his thoughts as he lowers his head.

Yukino gritted her teeth lightly as she shot Satoshi a fire-red glower, "At least I'm here _now_ , ya jerk!" she fumed loudly with her hands wound into fists at her sides. Satoshi smirked at her anger as he peeked from out one of his eyes and she growled over to him through pursed lips.

A soft round of laughter brought Yukino from her steaming anger, only to blink a couple of times as she eased back from Satoshi some and glanced around their small area finding a hooded figure that stood about half a head taller than her, "Hahaha," the person laughed. Yukino tilted her head to the side, "Who's the creep in the hood?" she asks obliviously and Satoshi, Keisuke and Miaka fell to the side anime-style.

Being the first to recover from being surprised of Yukino's stupidity, Miaka quickly shot up from the ground only to whack Yukino over the head, "Will you at least _try_ not to act so completely stupid? That's—"

"Haha, no, it is alright." The hooded person spoke up, drawing in the team's attention. The person reached up and pulled down their hood to reveal a head full of long and dark, navy blue colored hair tied up in a high ponytail. Yukino blinked as she took in the person's pale aquamarine eyes and creamy porcelain skin. The person shows a genuine, warm smile, "Hello there. My apologies, please let me introduce myself. My name is Watanabe Tsubasa; I am the heir of the Watanabe clan. I wish to thank the four of you for partaking in this mission on the sake of my behalf. You have my full gratitude; I hope that I will not be too much of a burden to carry." Tsubasa gave the four shinobi another small smile whilst dipping her head.

 _'Wow...what a pretty girl,'_ Yukino thought to herself and beamed a bright smile. "Wow, you're pretty cute!" she giggled, earning a faint round of blush from the young monarch.

"This is our client, Yukino." Miaka spoke up from behind the blonde. Yukino blinked her eyes a few times as she glanced from Miaka over towards the new tall female and then shown a rather cheeky smile over towards her, "Ha ha, the name's Uzumaki Yukino! I'm like the coolest kunoichi in this village, so ya don't have to worry, you'll be safe with me around." This statement merely made Satoshi and Keisuke fall over anime-style.

Tsubasa chuckled faintly with closed eyes, "You're quite funny, ha ha. I enjoy people with a good sense of humor, if anything," she smiled and dipped her head over towards the young blonde. "I place my life within your hands, shinobi of Konohagakure."

Yukino grinned widely at the statement and leaned over to Satoshi who had recovered from Yukino's crazy antics, "Heh-heh, ya hear that? Tsubasa trusts me with her life." She boasted proudly in a hushed whisper. Satoshi merely eyeballed the Uzumaki with a passive expression, _'I'm pretty sure that she was referring to all four of us,'_ he sweat dropped.

Rolling her light blue eyes, Miaka went over to the small two-person hut that stood at the right just beside the open gates of the village. Shrugging at her travel backpack, the blue haired jonin closed her eyes as she pulled a mission scroll from her black hip holster. "Team four, plus client heading out for escorting mission to Hoshigakure in the Land of Bears." Miaka explains as she hands one of the shinobi the scroll to examine.

The spiky haired brunette took the scroll, unrolled it, giving it a quick and observant glance, and he gave a curt nod as he noticed the correct undertaking of the assessment and the Hokage's signature. It was a go from the looks of things and he gave a small, professional smile as he looked up to a waiting Miaka and returned her scroll back to her. She nodded, taking it from him and placing it back into her hip holster.

"You're a go."

"Alright, thank you. See you when we come back." Miaka says before she turned on her heels, heading back over to her genin team. "Team four, let's head on out. We're not going to accomplish anything by just standing here. Into formation with you lot."

The teens nodded and explained to their client how they were to travel in order. With a faintly confused face, Tsubasa nodded her head before being sure to stand in the middle of the three-man's squad order.

 **\- -One hour into travel time- -**

"Well, there haven't been any set durations for the ceremony, so time isn't an essential ailment exactly." Tsubasa commented.

"So, all that really matters is getting you to Hoshigakure in one piece, safe and sound." Miaka noted from the back of the traveling assemblage. Team Miaka were already set on their mission through the forest, an hour's time already passed with their brisk, but leisured walking. The trip itself was to undoubtedly take up to at least about nearly a months' time, traveling from the Land of Fire to the Land of Bears. The group already planned to cover as much ground as they could during the day and stop to rest during the night to avoid any run-ins with any enemies along the trail.

"Say...how is this Inoue kid anyway, like in personality and stuff?" Yukino spoke up from the left of Tsubasa, simply fishing for some conversation to pass the time. Tsubasa blinked her pale sapphire eyes as she glanced over to the young blonde. "Well...to be truthful, I do not particularly know much about Inoue-san."

Yukino gave the navy haired girl a baffled expression as she leaned over into her face, "But aren't you guys gettin' married?!"

"This was arranged from birth, yes," Tsubasa blinked with a hesitant nod of her head.

"Then how the heck—"

Keisuke gave a short, tired sigh as he closed his eyes, catching Yukino's attention, "Usually, most noble clans set arranged marriages between their offspring without giving them a chance to meet one another, to avoid any complications with their relationship. But, as time progressed from the olden times, the tradition has lingered in most parts, while in others, most nobles makes best with letting the two heads befriend each other, but that's without saying that small complications would be made."

"But, Tsubasa's marryin' a complete stranger then." Yukino stated.

"Yukino," Miaka stated in a stern tone, "our mission is to take Tsubasa-san to Hoshigakure, not to criticize her or the Inoues' traditions."

Yukino puffed up her cheeks as she folded her arms, "It's still not fair though..."

"There's no need to worry," Tsubasa tilted her head to the side with a warm, light smile. "I do this for my clan's honor and I gladly abide by our customs and the elders' wishes. Since I am the future heir, I must do my part and what I must to commence peace amongst my clan and the future generations to come, as well as to create peace among the Inoue clan as well."

Miaka nodded her head as she closed her eyes, "Hmm, spoken like a true head of a clan." She compliments Tsubasa, turning her gaze to her from the corners of her blue eyes. Tsubasa blinked, glancing over her shoulder behind her and up to the jonin sensei and then broke into a small, faint smile, nodding her head gracefully. The navy haired girl then turned her head as she lingered in the middle of the squad's planned formation: Satoshi taking lead at the front of Tsubasa, Yukino resided at the left as Keisuke took place to Tsubasa's right and Miaka was following up just behind the young heir in case of a sneak attack from behind.

"I'm kinda surprised though...most people would try and bolt before even comin' out on this thing. I mean, the clan's wouldn't even know. Tsubasa could've been attacked and killed; while in reality she'd be off livin' a normal life with an actual person that she knows and loves." Yukino stated as she continued down the path, crossing her arms behind her head.

A noticeable vein popped onto the side of Miaka's head and she swung her fist out, hitting the bright haired blonde over the head, "Oww!" Yukino seethes, quickly hugging at the back of her head. The blue haired sensei closed her eyes, "Saying things like that could create an impulse for some, Uzumaki. Keep "bright" ideas like that to yourself."

"N-ngh...I was just thinkin' out loud, is all..." Yukino whined lightly, holding her head down. Tsubasa blinked at the violent nature of the team's sensei, but turned her vision over towards a wincing Yukino and gently placed her hand onto her shoulder, making the blonde peek over to her past one of her eyes, "Hm?"

"I do appreciate the thought and your strong defense in this, Uzumaki-chan...but, I must follow through with this. It was Okasan's final wish after all, before she passed. 'Make strong bonds and hold them within a tight seal', she said to me in her final hours. I wish to make her dream a reality, even if it's for the sake of two clans only." Tsubasa smiled down to the female blonde, closing her eyes gently, her lips lightly curled upward in a warm, brilliant sense. Yukino stared up to her and broke into a bright smile, reaching up and clasping her hand on top of Tsubasa's, which rested on her shoulder, "Heh-heh, I'll help ya out with seein' that dream come true!"

"Heh, over-optimistic dobe," Satoshi scoffed, closing his eyes. An irritation mark snapped at Yukino's head, "What'cha say, Baka Uchiha?" she growled. Satoshi scoffed a short chuckle, turning his head to the side, "You heard me. Besides, what makes you think that you have any good knowledge about marriage and love? You're just an un-cute, tomboy who'll make a womanly husband rather than a typical caring wife." He teased with a smirk. The female blonde gritted her teeth as she lunged over to Satoshi, who readied himself in a challenging defensive stance.

"Stay in formation, you two." Miaka scolded them, voice hardened and daring them to continue if they so wished to feel her harsh wrath. They knew of that tone by now and the two froze in their stances instantly, glaring amongst one another with Satoshi smirking over towards Yukino. As the two stood frozen, Keisuke, Tsubasa, and Miaka continued in stride.

Blinking, Tsubasa glanced over towards Yukino and Satoshi, "Excuse me, but should we be leaving them—"

"Don't mind them." Keisuke droned in a bored, tired voice; his jaw dropping slightly in a short break of a yawn. He tucked his hands into his pockets, his eyes half-lidded. Miaka closed her eyes, readjusting the strap to her sheathed katana that was strapped diagonally across her torso and backpack. Tsubasa watched the two with a slight raise of her thin eyebrows, but decided best to follow Miaka's and Keisuke's advice. Certainly they know enough about Yukino and Satoshi, so taking their word "not to worry" seemed appropriate to heed to.

After a few moments, Satoshi and Yukino broke away from their mindless and quite pointless dispute and strode down along the wood's path, catching up to the rest of their squad, falling back into formation. The group continued to travel among the wood's road, until the sky warmed into a half orange and half a dark blue mix of conversion, with a tinted purple in the middle to divide and bring it together. The sun was close on its way to setting and the night would soon mend in. Although the skies were hinting to nightfall, the group continued to make their way down through the forest, the rest of the way encased with calm, but alert silence, until they came to a small clearing. It was almost absolutely shaded by the leaves of the many tall trees about the area, the open vicinity was completely bare, and yet then again...it wasn't. It bore coverage, but it was suitable and seemingly functional for a place of rest for the time being. A silent stream rippled alongside of the team's campsite, its short and near quiet waves tickling against the faint coolness of the night.

"Alright," Miaka's voice broke through the silence over the group; she paused in her steps, and turned a small smile up towards the four teens as they paused in their walking in front of her, "we've seemed to have covered enough ground on our first day of travel amid this mission, so I'm declaring a breather for the night and this spot looks best as any to ease and unwind a bit. But, to be on the safe side, Yukino." Miaka stated, making said blonde flinch slightly. "Um, y-yeah?"

"I need you to run a quick scan of the area with your Byakugan, alright?"

Yukino blinked, but nodded her head gently as she closed her eyes. With a soft intake of breath, she rolled her shoulders back before she opened her eyes, _'Byakugan!'_ revealing the sharp gaze of the pearl white famous Byakugan of the Hyuuga clan, veins rolling towards her glaring eyes in a serious expression. She searched her gaze over the district of the surrounding area, not picking up any chakra signatures, except hers and her team. Closing her eyes, Yukino shook her head faintly; the use of the Byakugan still had its toll on her since she was a simple beginner in its usages. After shaking her head faintly, Yukino turned her deactivated gaze over towards her sensei, "There's not any sign of any enemies, Miaka-sensei." She replied.

Miaka nodded her head in understanding, "Then it's settled. We'll make camp here for the night." She stated with a smile, placing her hands onto her round hips.

Yukino jerked forward in surprise, "Huh? But, I thought we were in a hurry and stuff like that, or somethin'."

"We could keep going for several days if we were on our own, but..." Keisuke started as he and Satoshi strolled up just behind the female blonde and then shared their glances over their shoulders to find Tsubasa sitting on a nearby rock, wiping her bangs from her face tiredly, only to have them flop back down onto her forehead once again. Satoshi bobbed his head curtly in agreement, "Watanabe seems to have reached her limit. You have to remember that she's a noble heir; they're not particularly use to travel like this."

"Oh, yeah...Right." Yukino hummed, closing her eyes in embarrassment before she glances over to Tsubasa with a faint worried gaze. Feeling the concerning stare on her, Tsubasa blinked, tilting her head to the side and gave a small smile, "Oh, I'm rather fine, really—"

"You can't overexert yourself, Tsubasa-san." Miaka tells her as she walked over, placing her hand onto her shoulder. "We'll stop here to rest and be ready to head out tomorrow morning. We need you in top healthy condition to meet with the Inoue clan, remember?"

Yukino chuckled as she jogged over towards her sensei's side, smiling up to the navy haired heir, "Yeah, Tsubasa, heh-heh! You should take it easy and rest! Don't worry; we're here to watch over you. Nothin's gonna happen to you with me around." The blonde grinned into the girl's face, making her ease back hesitantly with a slight blush at her cheeks. Watching

Yukino grin up to her, Tsubasa blinked silently in an awkward sense before she nodded her head oh-so softly before she smiled to the blonde, "Alright, Uzumaki-chan."

"Heh-heh," Yukino beamed a bright smile as she folded her hands behind her head, closing her eyes. "I can help ya set up your tent and stuff, if you want, Tsubasa."

"Oh, th-that wouldn't be necessary, Uzumaki-chan. I can put together my own things—"

"Ha ha, oh c'mon! It could be fun, y'know?" The blonde smiled brightly with her eyes still closed, as she reached her hand out, grasping lightly about Tsubasa's own hand, making said monarch blink her eyes a bit taken aback. Yukino hummed a soft round of laughter as she pointed over towards an open corner of the clearing, "How 'bout over there? It looks pretty nice and stuff and it's a good distance from under the tree's canopy, so ya don't gotta worry 'bout twigs and other junk fallin' and tappin' against your tent when ya asleep." She rambled, turning a smile up to the navy haired girl from over her slender shoulder.

Silently, Tsubasa's gaze followed towards the direction that Yukino was pointing in and she blinked quietly before she glanced over towards the short, blonde haired female. She watched as she animatedly continued to ramble on about putting up the tent and whatnot, and Tsubasa's eyes softens gently as she smiled at the intake of Yukino's side profile, watching as she pointed and made silly hand gestures on building techniques that would help with keeping the tent held up and further on with more details, that the navy haired monarch found endearingly humorous.

"—...don't ya think?" Yukino asks as she turned her head, facing up to Tsubasa with a wide grin and closed eyes. Blinking out of her thoughts, Tsubasa smiled down to Yukino, nodding her head softly, "Ha ha, I agree. It seems like a wonderful thought, Uzumaki-chan."

"Heh, yeah," Yukino trailed off with a sigh, but closed her eyes as she tucked her hands onto her hips. "I'm smart like that, I guess. Ha ha, don't tell the others I told ya, 'cause I don't wanna make anyone jealous or anythin', but I'm kinda like both the brains and muscle around here." Yukino says in a hushed tone of voice as she leaned over towards Tsubasa, with a hand covering the side of her mouth. Tsubasa blinked her light sapphire colored eyes with a slightly baffled and comical sense to them as she stared down to Yukino, but was a bit taken aback as Satoshi leisurely strolled by, who had been carrying various sizes of twigs and sticks under his left arm, smacking the girl rather nonchalantly and harshly between her shoulder blades. Yukino leaned forward with a wince and then turned a full-on glare towards the Uchiha, "What the hell?!" She screeched.

Satoshi simply gave her a side glance as he continued to walk from her, "Everyone's already started on making the campsite. Stop goofing around, dobe." He stated and then made a few quick hand signs as he strode over towards the middle of their small area. "Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" He exclaimed, leaning back with his cheeks puffing up some and he thrust the upper part of his torso forward, breathing out a large spinning ball of hot and intense fire towards the gathered twigs, sticks and leaves within the center of their formed campsite. The jutsu made a hot, crackling fire to warm them up and help them see during the night from within a light, gentle blaze.

Tsubasa watched from beside Yukino with wide eyes and a gaping expression. "So that is the use of jutsu." She breathed faintly. "Amazing…" stated Tsubasa and Yukino merely shrugged her shoulders as she glared over towards the Uchiha, who rose up to his full stature and brushed his side bangs from his face. "Show off.." she huffed, crossing her arms just under her chest, but she then turned to the side, glancing up to Tsubasa with a light smile. "C'mon, let's get started on puttin' that tent of yours together."

"Oh, yes, we should." The navy haired monarch nodded her agreement as she followed after the blonde genin. Tsubasa unstrapped her traveling bag from her back and kneeled down to the ground. She silently shifted through her belongings, until she found what she had been searching for and she then pulled out a small folded rectangle with a near silent chuckle. "Here we are."

"Wow." Yukino gaped as she crouched down, placing her elbows onto her knees as she done so. "I thought since you were a noble and all that, that you would'a carried somethin' more extravagant and junk. But this is just a regular old tent."

"Hm, I wouldn't want to draw unwanted attention to myself, would I?" Tsubasa giggled, closing her eyes as she started to un-wrap the tent. Yukino kneeled down alongside of her and pitched in her assistance. With a few minor struggling and frustrated grumbles, Yukino had finished helping Tsubasa with her tent that now stood in a proud, prism-like shape and an unfolded mauve sleeping bag resting along the inside with Tsubasa's now discarded cloak which was folded up and lain out on top of her traveling bag. It seemed as though she were going to use the two as a sort of generic combination as a pillow to sleep on for the night.

After folding up and placing her cloak on her traveling bag, Tsubasa leaned up, wiping gently at her forehead as she gave a gentle chuckle, "There, ha ha. Seems that we are finished. I have to say, it has been different doing things myself for a change, but in a good way, yes." She chimed, standing up and dusting lightly at her loose beige colored pants that stopped just above her ankles by a few inches. Without the dark, heavy cloak, Yukino could see the noble heir's attire from underneath.

Tsubasa wore a neat and dark lavender Chinese-styled shirt with extra-long billowy sleeves that stopped about an inch past her fingertips, the long hem stopping just at the mid-section of her hips; the top's collar resided high, nearly covering her lips and the bottom half of her face. Around the collar and against her chest was laced a thick black string that hung a yin yang charm about Tsubasa's neck, the charms each being it's separate size of about three knuckles each. Her thick, awfully long navy colored hair was pulled neatly into a high ponytail that stopped just in the middle of her waist and pinned into her earlobes were a pair of marble-like yellow colored orb earrings.

Yukino blinked. She looked like a royal from the far off lands of some kind or something, but Yukino imagined that all nobles and high ranking families always dressed like this. But, all in all, Tsubasa seemed rather radiant and traditionally elegant in her appearance. Her exterior and form seemed to make her look even more beautiful and lovely. Not to mention her kind, temperate and polite mannerisms and personality.

After a moment or so of taking in the appearance of her charge, Yukino silently nods her head at Tsubasa's statement. "Ha ha, yeah. Hey, do ya need anythin' else? Ya hungry? I could go and see if Miaka-sensei is finished skewin' the fish over the fire."

Tsubasa glanced up from patting her attire down, looking over in Yukino's direction and as she done so, a low and quiet rumbling hummed from her stomach. She blinked, blushing faintly out of embarrassment and Yukino broke into a loud, short banter of laughter, "Ha ha! I'll take that as a "yes" then. Sit tight; I'll be right back, 'kay?" The blonde giggled as she climbed up to her feet and exited from out of the tent, pushing the flap towards the side as she left.

As Yukino took her leave, Tsubasa watched silently after her with a gentle smile before she turned her face downward, staring down into her lap quietly. Team Miaka seemed so nice and shared…interesting bonds with each other. It was different from what Tsubasa was typically used to from back at the Watanabe compound, but it was surely different in a good sense it seemed. She was indeed grateful that the Lady Hokage of Konohagakure had accepted the mission and chose to help her through this trying trek of hers. It meant a lot to her and the Watanabe clan, as well as the Inoue clan.

After some short time, Tsubasa sighed softly as she reached up and latched her hand gently about the charm hanging from her neck. She closed her eyes with another sigh, "Okasan…for you, I trek this journey." She whispered gently to herself, before she heard a few footsteps approaching towards the entranceway of the tent. Tsubasa glances up, letting her hand fall from her necklace, noticing Yukino's return. Said blonde grinned brightly, "Heh, yeah they're done! I'll take the slightly burnt one, so here ya go." She offered as she eased down to her knees, handing the fish on a stick towards Tsubasa.

She nodded her head lightly in gratitude. "Thank you, Uzumaki-chan."

Yukino nodded her head as well, before she leaned over and took a rather large and unladylike bite from her skewed fish. She closed her eyes in a goofy-like sense as she eased her head back with a delighted hum of satisfied hunger, chewing wholeheartedly over the simple meal, "Mmn~" she nommed happily with a faint giggle tickling past her chewing lips. Sitting quietly for a moment, the navy haired monarch blinked, before she gave a soft giggle of her own.

Tsubasa tilted her head to the side, closing her eyes as she delicately chewed a piece from her own skewed fish.

 **\- -Miaka- -**

Low crackling sounded from the middle of the campsite as Miaka sat silently, holding her fish on a stick close, but not too close, letting it cook against the brewing small fire. Her katana was tucked securely within its dull and faded blue sheath, lain against a small log that she was sitting on, by her side. Her pale sapphire blue eyes watched calmly down to the fish as it warmed against the fire's heat and oh-so slowly roasted. The brewing fire, tinted the front of her physique into a hue of orange and yellow slightly. It adorned her scarlet colored lipstick coating her full lips.

A pair of sandals scuffed over the wood's dirt floor from just the left side of her and she gave a minor, casual glance over, finding her young male blonde genin, Nara Keisuke. He heaved a low sigh as he pulled his hands out of his pockets, easing down to sit beside his sensei, who gave a faint chuckle.

"Always dreary, you are there, Keisuke." She smiled, rolling her gaze back down to the bonfire.

Keisuke closes his viewable eye as he lean his head back with a huff. "Troublesome things seem to do that to a person, I guess." He says while tilting his head to the side, his eyes still closed.

"Tch, you complain just like that father of yours," the blue haired Jonin shook her head with a quiet laugh. With his eyes still closed and head tilted to the side, Keisuke couldn't help but chuckle along with his sensei. "Ha ha," he chortled a bit lazily.

A shuffling of leaves made Miaka and Keisuke both glance over towards their right, finding Satoshi exiting from out of a pair of low bushes with a calm expression etched into his face, "I'm back." He greeted the two members of his team. Miaka nodded her head a bit, her eyes still on him, "Report?"

"The east and south borders are clear within the vicinity." Satoshi replied with a tired tilt of his head. Nodding her head to him, Miaka turned her gaze over towards Keisuke, who sighed heavily. "North and west borders were clear also."

"Alright, there's some good news." The blue haired jonin smiled and glanced over to the darkening color of the fish she was making, finding it a satisfied color of readiness. She beamed a bit as she pulled it back from the fire, blowing on it gently, "I guess we can unload our bags and call it a night. Yukino has already settled Watanabe-san in while you two were on patrol. You can unwind for a bit now, but we can't let our guards fully down. Stay cautious, we don't know if anyone is hiding low and pressuring down their chakra so we can't sense them."

Satoshi nodded his head in response, tucking his hands into his pockets as Keisuke heaved another heavy sigh. "What a drag." He droned as he pushed off of the log he was sitting on, and headed over towards his traveling bag to start unpacking his things for the night. Satoshi mirrored the young Nara, unpacking his sleeping bag as well, setting it near the fire and sliding himself into its somewhat warmth.

First day of the escorting mission: successful. At least for the first night so far.

 ** _to be continued . . ._**


	5. NOT A CHAPTER

Hello there fellow fanficers. I am back. I must apologize for the very, very long vacation. Many changes have taken up time in my life, so I was busy, busy, busy with all that. But I have cleared up some time to continue with my works here online. I want to thank you all for having patience with me. I do appreciate it so much.

I will be posting later next week, after my WiFi gets reconnected. I will be starting with A Simple Thread for starters, then As If A Relationship Wasn't Hard Enough, Lapis Lazuli Promise, Fujisaki Manor, and then my naruto fanfic Deeper Bonds. So be sure to keep an eye out for these titles. Until next time, I wish nothing but the best to all of those of you out there. Always stand strong and push forward towards only the best of things.

-MoonLightDaiyz


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